This year, our library staff has been expanding our outreach efforts to reach people in our communities who may not be able to come to the library. One of the approaches we have been trying is to create Satellite Libraries in different locations, including local preschools, special needs classrooms for teens, senior centers, rehab facilities, food banks, and school aftercare sites.

For each location, we create a separate library account, and provide a plastic bin (we’re currently using heavy duty plastic transit bins that were retired when our system switched to a different type). We stock the bins with 30 to 40 books that we swap out once a month or so.

The books we supply are often duplicate copies, or low-circing items that might otherwise have been weeded. It’s been a great way to circulate some of our world language books to communities who will get the most use from them: for example, we bring picture books in Tagalog in Spanish to one of the local preschools where a number of the children come from families where those languages are spoken at home. We will also take requests for particular types of books if possible.

We make it clear to the staff at each location that they do not need to keep track of the books in the bin. People are welcome to bring the books home, and we are not overly concerned if they don’t get returned. In my experience though, most of the books have come back.

The kids at the school aftercare sites are always especially excited whenever we bring new books for the bin. They immediately start pulling books from the bin, which is always fun to see.

If you have any questions, or if you’ve tried a similar program you would like to share, please let me know in the comments.